Mining
Malawi Government needs to invest in minerals sector to ensure growth
February 24, 2024 / Marcel Chimwala
It is unfortunate that despite the minerals sector being touted as a priority sector to support industrialisation in Malawi 2063, the Ministry of Mining continues to be neglected in terms of funding.
As reported in our article on Page 8, the Ministry of Mining’s provision in the budget continues to be much lower compared to other Ministries such as Energy and Natural Resources despite the huge responsibility that the Ministry has, which is to efficiently govern the sector to maximise revenue generation.
We agree with Coordinator for Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) Kennedy Rashid quoted in the article that such underfunding to the Ministry signifies that mining is not a priority in the budget.
As Rashid says this is very unfortunate because it is through investing in the sector that we can create a vibrant mining industry capable of financing other social sectors such as health and education.
With this underfunding, the Ministry will certainly fail to fulfil plans and mandatory duties including; managing the development of mineral resources; monitoring and regulating operations of the mining industry; and monitoring of seismic activities.
This implies that the sector will remain in a mess with illegal mining continuing as the Ministry will fail to finance operations of Mines Officers in mining districts.
Therefore, as NRJN Programmes Coordinator Joy Chabwera suggests in the article, it is important that Government develops a budget for the next financial year that will enhance the mining sector’s performance and impact in areas of; infrastructure development, capacity building, transparency and accountability mechanism, community development, environmental protection, stakeholder engagement and consultations, research and data collection and, diversification of economy.
In order to ensure sustainable growth of the industry, resources should be allocated for capacity building programs aimed at enhancing the skills and knowledge of local communities, government officials and industry stakeholders.
Funds should also be allocated for the operationalization of the state owned mining company which government established to invest in mining projects and partner private firms in mining ventures.
We also propose that Government establishes a revolving fund specifically for artisanal and small scale miners (ASMs) to assist them with capital to purchase mining and processing equipment.
We believe that this revolving fund will help in increasing productivity in the ASM subsector and assist in poverty alleviation by aiding the ASMs to graduate into mechanised miners.
The only way Malawi’s mining sector can develop is by assisting ASMs to develop into cooperatives that should grow into large commercial entities.
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Rehabilitation:
The establishment of a stable and self-sustaining ecosystem, but not necessarily the one that existed before mining began. In many cases, complete restoration may be impossible, but successful remediation, reclamation, and rehabilitation can result in the timely establishment of a functional ecosystem.
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Remediation:
The cleanup of the contaminated area to safe levels by removing or isolating contaminants. At mine sites, remediation often consists of isolating contaminated material in pre-existing tailings storage facilities, capping tailings and waste rock stockpiles with clean topsoil, and collecting and treating any contaminated mine water if necessary.
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